Keegan Bradley officially confirmed his six captaincy choices a few days ago. While the public expected the American captain to choose himself among those six players, Bradley knew that such a decision could bring negative consequences for his team.
Hands down, Keegan Bradley deserves a spot in the team, but on the other hand, there were questions about how he would handle the dual role.
Johnson Wagner, a well-known face of the golf scene, believes that Bradley would be able to handle himself as a playing captain, however, looking at things from this perspective, he believes that the 39-year-old still made the right decision.
Johnson Wagner points out that the pressure on the American team will be significantly less, because the captain will receive fewer and fewer questions about the double role, considering that this year he will only be the captain. In this way, Bradley will be able to focus exclusively on the role of captain and help his team reach the trophy.
“The honour of being a Ryder Cup captain, I think it would have been really cool to watch him make history. I was looking forward to him playing and being captain as well, sharing those roles. But now that I reflect on it as the week has gone by, the amount of noise and media attention that has now been squashed from this competition, I think is really good for this US team, not only Keegan, but all the players,” he said, as quoted by The Golfing Gazette.
“Having to answer question after question, they’re going to Napa, and it would have all been about, ‘hey, can captain Keegan play?’ So now I think at least the noise is quieted down. They can focus on playing, they don’t have to worry about all that. The amount of internal pressure he would have put on himself I think would have maybe been a little too great, so I’m happy to admit that I was wrong. And I’m happy he made the decision he made.”
Keegan Bradley and pressure
Being a player-captain is a situation we haven't seen in years, specifically since 1963 and Arnold Palmer. Keegan Bradley knew that such a decision could cause fierce reactions, especially if the American team was unsuccessful in this year's edition.
That's the last thing a 39-year-old would want to see.
Anything but victory will certainly be a failure for them, because it has become a tradition for the home teams to celebrate in this competition, with rare exceptions that happen once in ten years.
This year's Ryder Cup will certainly bring the excitement and surprise factor, and we hope for great nights and a great tournament.
